It’s dry skin season again – these winter months can become very uncomfortable for many people. That is, unless you’re equipped with a nourishing skin cream such as our all-natural lanolin High Meadow Skin Care products. Here at the farm, there are always benefits to learning how to prepare for winter.

Folks there is nothing like making hay while the sun shines – in farming and in life!

As a sustainable sheep farm, we make our hay during the Summer months so we have forage (feed) for the sheep flocks during the Winter months (when the ground is snow covered and the sheep are most typically in the barns and dropping their lambs).

Hay is dried grass, nothing more and nothing less. We prefer for our hay to be nutrient rich alfalfa or clover or occasionally a clover/ orchard grass mix. High protein content for the sheep (most of which are pregnant by the time they head into the barns for Winter).

In order for the cut grass to dry properly, and to be safely and properly stored as hay, we sheep farmers need to mow the hay, dry the hay and then bale the hay, and get the bales under cover in the haylofts of the barns, all while the sun shines.

First, we cut the hay, most typically with a haybine. The haybine cuts the hay at ground level and then typically crushes it between a set of rollers before laying it down in a wind row. The haybine is an implement pulled behind the tractor.

The next day, after the hay is cut with the haybine, we sheep farmers will rake the hay with a rake which is another implement pulled behind the tractor. By raking the hay the windrow is turned over so that the hay that was on the underside of the windrow as the hay was cut and laid down is on the top of the windrow and will dry in the hot sun.

Typically on day three, we sheep farmers will bale the hay. The hay is often raked again pre baling and then the baler will come down the wind row (behind the tractor) and will compact the dried hay into 50 pound small square bales. The baler is another implement pulled behind the tractor.

That small square baled hay is they hauled to the hayloft on a haywagon and unloaded into the hayloft where it is stored until it is fed to the livestock in the Winter months.

Farmers can make hay only when the sun is shining, or the hay will be put up wet and will spoil.So farmers need to watch the weather and when three nice hot days in a row are predicted, they need to make the hay. In other words they make hay while the sun shines (for three straight days).

That same phrase, make hay while the sun shines, is of general applicability – and not just to livestock farmers.

In that broader sense, when someone encourages you to make hay while the sun shines they are telling you to seize the day and to take advantage of whatever opportunities lie before you when the opportunities are available to you. In other words, do all that you can while you can.

Are you prepared for dry skin season this winter? Use the links on this page to order your all-natural lanolin skin cream today!